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KYPRIANOS M285

Sigla: question mark icon Modern names for the manuscript, including inventory and publication numbers.

PCM 1 32
PCM I 32
P. Heid. Inv. Kopt. 518
P. Baden 5 131
P. Bad. 5 131
P. Baden V 131
P. Bad. V 13

Category: question mark icon Classification of the contents, e.g. magical (formulary or applied), alchemical, liturgical, documentary or medical.

Magical (formulary)
Contents:

Original use:

1. p. 2 cols. 1-2, Vo cols. 1-2: Biblical text, includes Jeremiah 41.8 (verso col. 1).

Re-use (palimpsest):

2. p. 1 ll. 1-27: Love spell.
3. p. 1 ll. 28-34 – p. 2 ll. 1-38: Love spell.
4. p. 3 ll. 18-19: Traces of lost text
See all texts in this manuscript.

Language(s):

Egyptian (Coptic)
Script(s):

Coptic
Dialect:

Sahidic with slight Fayumic features
Language/dialect notes:

Dosoo/Preininger 2023: p. 422-423; cf. Bélanger Sarrazin 2017: p. 396.
Date: question mark icon Dates are CE unless preceded by a minus sign <->, in which case they are BCE. 901 – 1000
Date notes:

Dated palaeographically to the 10th century by Dosoo/Preininger 2023: 422. 9th to 11th century dating from TM (24/9/18). The original text likely dates to around the 6th century (Alin Suciu, personal communication 20/12/2022). The magical re-use contains Arabic loanwords, and thus must date to after the Arab conquest, but more likely to the ninth century at the earliest (KD 20/12/2022).
Archive/collection: question mark icon Larger collection to which manuscript belongs.
Archive name:
State of edition:

Published.
Image:

Form:

Codex
Material:

Parchment
Dimensions (cm): Height: 21.4 Width: 16.4 Depth:
Dimensions (notes):

Meyer & Smith (1999: p. 161.)
Folding pattern:
State of preservation:

Sheet from a codex (Mößner and Nauerth 2015: p. 307). Fragmentary.
Pages/Columns: question mark icon Total surviving columns in the manuscript for rolls, sheets and rotuli; total number of pages for codices.

2
Pages/Columns (notes):

Re-use: 1 column each, recto and verso. Recto 35 lines, verso 41 lines. Original use: likely two columns each, recto and verso, at 90 degrees to the magical re-use, of which only traces of the first column of the verso are visible. The original folios were turned 90 degrees and folded to produce the bifolios of the verso, so that the height of the sheet was the original width, and the original height was twice the width of this sheet.
Hand:

Findspot:

Arsinoites (Fayum), Egypt (?)

(TM places ID: 332)
Place of purchase: (TM places ID: )
Writingspot:

Arsinoites (Fayum), Egypt (?)

(TM places ID: 332)
Present Location:
Collection History:

Acquired in 1896 by K. Reinhardt as part of a large number of papyri, parchment manuscripts and wooden tablets, and sold 1897 to the University of Heidelberg (Seider 1964: p. 143-4. 168). Apparently lost during the Second World War (Mößner and Nauerth 2015: p. 307).
Trismegistos collection: question mark icon Page on the database Trismegistos collections for the institution which currently houses the manuscript.
Collection website:

Notes/Discussion:

We thank Alin Suciu for identifying the original text (KD 20/12/2022).

Bibiliography
Editions:

Bilabel, Friedrich, and Adolf Grohmann. Griechische, koptische und arabische Texte zur Religion und religiösen Literatur in Ägyptens Spätzeit, Heidelberg: Verlag der Universitätsbibliothek, 1934, p. 375-380, no. 131.

★ Dosoo, Korshi, and Markéta Preininger. Papyri Copticae Magicae. Coptic Magical Texts, Volume 1: Formularies (PCM I 1), Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete – Beihefte 48. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2023, p. 422-431, no. 32.

Bélanger Sarrazin, Roxanne. Les divinités gréco-égyptiennes dans les textes magiques coptes. Leuven: Peeters, 2025, p. 274-277.
Translations:

Meyer, Marvin W., and Richard Smith. Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power. Princeton (New Jersey): Princeton University Press, 1999, p. 161-164, no. 77.
General:

Bélanger Sarrazin, Roxanne. Les divinités gréco-égyptiennes dans les textes magiques coptes. Leuven: Peeters, 2025, p. 170-172.

Mößner, Tamara, and Claudia Nauerth. “Koptische Text und ihre Bilder.” In Ägyptische Magie und ihre Umwelt, edited by Andrea Jördens. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2015, p. 307-308.

Polotsky, Hans J. “Zu einigen Heidelberger koptischen Zaubertexten.” Orientalia 4 (1935): p. 420.

Seider, Richard. “Aus der Arbeit der Universitätsinstitute. Die Universitäts-Papyrussammlung.” Heidelberger Jahrbücher 8 (1964): 142-203.

Trismegistos ID:

99553

 		PAThs:
PGM: question mark icon Papyri Gracae Magicae SM: question mark icon Supplementum Magicum GEMF: question mark icon Greek and Egyptian Magical Formularies (forthcoming) ACM: question mark icon Ancient Christian Magic

77
Bélanger Sarrazin: question mark icon Bélanger-Sarrazin. “Catalogue des textes magiques coptes”

170

 AKZ: question mark icon Ausgewählte koptische Zaubertexte CBd: question mark icon Campbell-Bonner Magical Gems Database Mert.-Pack: question mark icon Mertens-Pack online database
Van H: question mark icon van Haelst, Catalogue des papyrus littéraires Bruyn-Dijkstra: question mark icon de Bruyn and Dijkstra, “Greek Amulets and Formularies (Checklist)" TheDefix: question mark icon Thesaurus Defixionum To Zodion:
Edit History:

EL (24/9/2018); KD (18/12/2018); MPS (30/8/2019); KD (27/11/2019); MPS (4/9/2020); MPS (22/3/2021); SVS (08/09/2022); KD (23/11/2022); KD (20/12/2022); KD (3/2/2023); KD (20/11/2023); KD (18/1/2024)

How to cite:
[Editor names]. "KYP M285," Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects, Korshi Dosoo, Markéta Preininger, & Roxanne Bélanger Sarrazin (principal editors), www.coptic-magic.phil.uni-wuerzburg.de/index.php/manuscript/kyp-m285. Accessed on 09/10/2026
For the "editor names", see the abbreviated names in the field "Edit History", and to resolve the abbreviations, see the help page.

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